The S.O.S. Band (sometimes written SOS Band; abbreviation for Sounds Of Success) is an American R&B and electro-funk group who gained fame in the 1980s. They are best known for the songs “Take Your Time (Do It Right),” “Just Be Good to Me,” “Tell Me If You Still Care,” and “The Finest.”
The band was founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1977. The original group members included Willie “Sonny” Killebrew (saxophone), Billy Ellis (flute), Jason “T.C.” Bryant (keyboards), Bruno Speight (guitar), John Simpson (bass), James Earl Jones III (drums), and Mary Davis (lead vocals, keyboards).[1][2] It was originally known as Santa Monica,[1] but later changed its name to The S.O.S. Band- an acronym for Sounds of Success.[1][2][3] After listening to its demo and being impressed with their sound, Tabu Records founder Clarence Avant signed the group to its first recording contract.
In 1980, the group released its first hit single, “Take Your Time (Do It Right)“, which was certified platinum and sold over 2 million copies. Its debut album, S.O.S., went gold and sold over 800,000 copies. Trumpeter, vocalist, and percussionist Abdul Ra’oof joined the band while it was on a world tour.[2]
In 1983, the band joined forces with then-new production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who went on to craft a string of R&B hits for the group, which included “Just Be Good to Me,” “High Hopes,” “Tell Me If You Still Care,” “Borrowed Love,” “No One’s Gonna Love You,” “Just the Way You Like It,” and “The Finest.”
Agreed.
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For the wilfully dumb
https://mobile.twitter.com/metaquest/status/819708021798420480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This broke my heart with the accuracy
https://mobile.twitter.com/peterdeseve/status/819687805588832256
If you need a laugh, Click on this link, and follow the story. HILARIOUS
That’s good. I love the names, Heather, Molly, Connor, etc…
that is where I lost it, when I realized that he was just calling them random names😅😅😅😅😅
His future could be in writing comedy.
Yeah, these billionaires need another $7 million in tax cuts. Good Lord, they’ve got that much sitting on the coffee table.
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsHis future could be in writing comedy.
Misplaced comment above. Sorry.
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Rep Raul Grijalva just posted this on Facebook:
“Saying you will replace the ACA with something “far less expensive and far better” is not a policy proposal – it’s a sham. Republicans have spent the 6 years since the ACA was signed attacking the law with one falsehood after another, and now they’re starting to realize how bad of an idea that would be for the American people.
So to every Congressional Republican starting to worry that an ACA repeal is a political loser for the Republican Party, just think about how much more scary an ACA repeal is for the American people watching you play politics with their healthcare. It’s not too late for you to do the right thing.”
Democrats need to expose Republican lies and NOW, not later.
A few voices are not enough. What is holding them back? They should be screaming.
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/819659739206479872
This was TOO good, y’all. I cried too.
https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/819652389955194880
https://twitter.com/AP/status/819653586116296706
https://twitter.com/ericbradner/status/819297667847176207
https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/819652350461681664
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/819643265771335681
https://twitter.com/AP_Politics/status/819572970268008448
https://twitter.com/AP_Politics/status/819638752721203200
https://twitter.com/AP_Politics/status/819296237866381312
“Judge won’t release squad car video in Philando Castile shooting”
http://www.twincities.com/2017/01/09/judge-wont-release-squad-car-video-in-philando-castile-shooting/
“Baton Rouge officer in Alton Sterling shooting sued over Earth Day arrest”
http://www.nola.com/news/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2017/01/earth_day_arrest_lawsuit.html
Excerpt:
The Leaked Dossier Shows Just How Close Trump Is to Russia
by Martin Longman
January 12, 2017 11:50 AM
……………………..
That didn’t keep Page (and former congressman Jack Kingston) from traveling to Moscow in mid-December to recommend that the sanctions on Russia be lifted and to praise the nomination of Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State.
“Trump can look at sanctions. They’ve been in place long enough,” Kingston told NPR in Moscow. “Has the desired result been reached? He doesn’t have to abide by the Obama foreign policy. That gives him a fresh start.”
…By chance, Kingston’s Moscow trip coincided with the visit of another Trump disciple, Carter Page, who once claimed to advise the Republican candidate on energy and Russia policy. The Trump campaign later distanced itself from Page after he came under scrutiny for his ties to Russia.
On Monday, Page held a news conference at the headquarters of Sputnik, a Russian state-run news agency, where he complained about the proliferation of fake news.
Page lamented the “Cold War mindset” in the U.S. and sang the praises of Rex Tillerson, the Exxon Mobil CEO who expanded his company’s footprint in Russia and whom Trump now wants to be his secretary of state.
There’s no question that Tillerson’s Exxon/Mobil would like to see the sanctions lifted, as Rachel Maddow ably demonstrated on her show last night (go to minute 12:30 of the video). Exxon has the right to drill on more acres of Russia than the rest of the world combined, but they are precluded from doing so by the post-Crimea sanctions.
Is it any wonder that Russia would seek to influence the presidential campaign or that they would seek to cultivate a candidate who would end the sanctions? Is it in the least hard to understand how Tillerson’s appointment represents a staggering success in this regard from the Kremlin?
Omg!!! Lmao!
The Meaning of Michelle
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/meaning-michelle-writers-pen-love-letters-first-lady-n705921?cid=sm_tw
‘The Meaning of Michelle’: Writers Pen Love Letters to the First Lady
by ANDREA KING COLLIER
On Tuesday night, Barack Obama gave his final address as President of the United States. It was emotional and powerful, and it bears noting that his thank you to his wife of 25 years was the “not-a-dry-eye-in-the-house” moment.
As many Americans begin the long tearful goodbye to the Obamas, a new book of essays puts what the First Lady has meant to so many over the last eight years into words.
The book, The Meaning of Michelle seems to be just what the doctor ordered for those who want to bask in her Black Girl Magic a little while longer. NBCBLK spoke to the editor, award-winning journalist and author Veronica Chambers, who brought 15 writers to the page to weigh in on the impact of Michelle Obama.
How did the book come about?
Elisabeth Dyssegaard, who is an old friend suggested it one day when we were having lunch. It has kind of been our thing over the last 8 years. We have lunch and at some point in the lunch, we have a Michelle Obama appreciation moment. Then about a year ago, she suggested we channel all this admiration and appreciation into a book project.
THIS:
“What do you think Michelle Obama’s real legacy will be in the months and years to come?
If I had to sum up her legacy in one word, I would say it would be the authenticity. The power of authenticity. Like author Brené Brown has written, “If I get to be myself, I belong. If I have to be like you, I fit in.” This question of belonging versus fitting in continues to be a real challenge, for women and especially for women of color. But belonging, and being ourselves, is where our power is at.
Michelle Obama modeled that in this really unique and exemplary way. It’s a legacy that will be remembered, studied and treasured not just by our daughters, but our daughters’ daughters. I’m confident of that.”
Translation: BREAKING we spoke with a witness about Trumps Golden Shower. Tomorrow.
https://twitter.com/BartMos/status/819601022637248513
Don’t fall for these FAKE-ASS TOWN HALLS, FOLKS! They aren’t for SMART folks, like us.
House Republicans are still working behind the scenes to lock down votes ahead of a Friday vote on the resolution that starts rolling back Obamacare.
Warning that the Affordable Care Act was in a “death spiral,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said at a news conference Thursday that Republicans have a responsibility to repeal and replace Obamacare as quickly as possible. “We’ve got to intervene to prevent this from getting worse,” Ryan said.
Ryan will take questions from the public when he appears at a live CNN town hall tonight at 9 p.m. ET.
Ryan is a lying sack of sh/t.
What are the Democrats doing about this?
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/819614871809560577
The STUPID BURNS DEEPLY
POTUS Before you leave, please grant clemency to Leonard Peltier. The time is always right to do what’s right. Give Leonard Peltier his freedom.
https://twitter.com/lastrealindians/status/819613432265601024
https://twitter.com/maggiekb1/status/819598432138625028
Florida Democratic Party Fail
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article125626639.html
Trump not above using his notoriety to reward allies, punish critics
01/12/17 10:54 AM
By Steve Benen
The New York Times had an interesting article this week about the health care industry and its anxieties surrounding the changes Donald Trump and congressional Republicans intend to impose on the system. The piece, however, was a little short on quotes, and as it turns out, there was a specific reason for that.
“Some companies, anxious about changes in health policy, said they were afraid to speak out because they feared that Mr. Trump would attack them on Twitter, as he has badgered Boeing, Ford, General Motors, Lockheed Martin and Toyota,” the Times explained.
President Obama spoke at MacDill Air Force Base last month, where he celebrated one of the great American freedoms: we can “criticize a president without retribution.” Evidently, that freedom is a little less secure in the Trump era.
Indeed, the New York Times’ report followed a related piece on tech companies on the West coast adjusting their schedules, making sure “someone is up at 3 a.m. local time to catch the [president-elect’s] tweets out of fear that a Trump tweet could crash their stock and put their company into a frenzy.”
As the Media Clutches Its Pearls About BuzzFeed…
by Martin Longman
January 12, 2017 11:50 AM
Obviously, different rules apply to retired intelligence officers who are working on a private contract basis than apply to active officers of our clandestine services. And, of course, there’s a difference between blowing the cover of an American intelligence officer and that of a British intelligence officer. But the concerns are the same when it comes to the possible harm that will come to that officer or his or her sources.
By revealing the identity of Christopher Steele, the Wall Street Journal has sent him scurrying for a bolt hole. He’s left his cat with a neighbor, sent his family somewhere, and gone to ground. The Telegraph reports that he’s terrified that the Russians will come after him.
But that’s not the only problem. Armed with his identity, it should be a fairly simple matter for the Russians to deconstruct his investigation, figure out who was talking to him, and bring the hammer down on the individuals who were providing him with information.
Marcy Wheeler recently went through his dossier and identified (in rough terms) who these sources were. They included a “senior Russian Foreign Ministry figure with knowledge of intelligence the Kremlin was feeding Trump,” a “former top level Russian intelligence officer still active inside the Kremlin,” an “official close to (former) Presidential Admin Head Sergei Ivanov,” and a “Kremlin source close to Dmitri Medvedev.”
Those individuals must now hope that they can’t be retroactively connected to Steele or his investigators.
Trump & his cohorts have OPENED UP A DANGEROUS CAN OF WORMS.
PUTIN IS SITTING BACK & ENJOYING ALL THE CHAOS, CONFUSION, PERAL-CLUTHCING BY THE GREEDY, POWER-HUNGRY AMERICAN POLS.
The dirty, filthy SECRETS are going to be exposed, one by one, by one, for any and all who do not tow the line for RUSSIA.
MADDENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The clusterf*ck grows by the hour. Don’t even know which way to look anymore which is what they want.
Like I said earlier….I wouldn’t be surprised if Putin has his hands on more than just Trump. Maybe some people that no one would’ve suspected.
And now Lepen shows up here?
Wait a minute. Since when do journalists out their sources? I don’t even know what decade we live in anymore?
Did dems really vote down a Bernie proposed bill to import cheaper drugs from Canada?
Found this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Political_Revolution/comments/5nisw5/these_democrats_just_voted_against_bernies/
When in the blazing hell are these people going to F**KING LEARN??
Seriously like wtf is this??? I’m so tired of bought and paid for politicians that act like they have our best interest at heart when they just have their own ambitions and riches in sight. There better be a really good reason for this BS
Sunshine, this story is flying under the radar. That’s how we get nailed.
We cannot depend on these politicians who are supposed to be on our side to march in lockstep when they need to. The GOP has no problem marching in lockstep which is why they eventually get what they want. We are in so much trouble…
Maybe they just hate Bernie and don’t want him to succeed. I have no idea what the reason may be but why would a handful of these clowns block a good amendment when there was at least some bi-partisan support?
F*** them up, down, sideways, and through and through.
Maybe these senators also get some $ from pharma that they really really need. So obviously our need for affordable pharmaceuticals isn’t as important as their rise to the top.
And Cory booker!!!!! That’s a big wtf. Someone really needs to explain this to me.
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Big Pharma-Backed Dems Join GOP to Block Sanders Effort to End Drug Price Gouging
Sen. Cory Booker and others draw sharp rebuke from observers, who pointed out that many who voted “no” receive substantial contributions from the pharmaceutical industry
by Lauren McCauley, staff writer
While the Republican Party is publicly dismantling millions of Americans’ health safety net, more than a dozen Democrats late Wednesday quietly threw their weight behind Big Pharma and voted down an amendment that would have allowed pharmacists to import identical—but much less expensive—drugs from Canada and other countries.
The “power and wealth of the pharmaceutical industry and their 1,300 lobbyists and unlimited sums of money have bought the United States Congress,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) declared in a speech on the Senate floor while introducing the amendment, co-sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), which would have been attached to the chamber’s budget resolution. It came amid a flurry of legislative activity during Wednesday evening’s “vote-a-rama.”
“Year after year the same old takes place: the pharmaceutical industry makes more and more money and the American people pay higher ad higher prices,” Sanders continued, asking his colleagues if they “have the guts finally to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry and their lobbyists and their campaign contributions and fight for the American consumer?”
It turns out, no.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/01/12/big-pharma-backed-dems-join-gop-block-sanders-effort-end-drug-price-gouging
This story is totally flying under the radar, Sunshine.
Good catch.
Booker gets pats on the back for opposing Sessions, and that is a GOOD thing he’s doing, no argument there. But then this.
So, yeah, it’s a big problem who bankrolls these guys. Kind of interferes with all that serving the people they are supposed to be doing.
Agghhh!!! These democrats are shameful! We will lose again in 2020 if this is what we are left with. I read the Miami herald article that was posted and it seems the democrats are stuck in making sure their own pockets are lined with the money they make off the lies they tell us all. I no longer identify with this party.
TODAY’S TREAT FOR 3 CHICS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z48ny3Ox0Jo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXtQMYotByY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aVDefOvPJI
“CHELLE, YOU ARE LOVELY, MADE FROM LOVE.”
FLOTUS and JF have always been cute and funny together.
I have tears..
I’m totally crying at the people thanking FLOTUS.
Wow, just wow! My heart is rejoicing, is moved to tears, is bright and happy…wow…just to watch that amazingly moving video! Wow!
https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/819527752579764225
Well, I should hope so.
YA THINK, CHUCKIE?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X38k0cND64
Little Marco is biding his time How much, Rubio? HOW MUCH$???
Because don’t think for one nano second that Rubio’s performance yesterday was anything other than a way to BENEFIT him, and not the GREATER GOOD.
https://twitter.com/TPM/status/819562514098876417
Congressional GOP has a (health care) bridge it wants to sell you
01/12/17 08:43 AM—UPDATED 01/12/17 08:51 AM
By Steve Benen
Senate Republicans did not vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act overnight, but they did take the first important step down that road. If you’re wondering what’s at the end of that road, you’re not alone.
Following the so-called “vote-a-rama,” in which senators considered a series of amendments in rapid secession, the chamber voted 51 to 48* in support of something called a budget resolution. How does this affect “Obamacare”? Substantively, it doesn’t. Last night’s vote was largely about process: the Senate got the ball rolling on giving itself the ability to use reconciliation to repeal key parts of the ACA with 50 votes instead of 60.
The bill now heads to the Republican-led House, which will almost certainly approve it tomorrow. Because it’s a legislative blueprint, the bill does not go to the White House for a signature. (This is effectively an outline Congress is creating for itself.)
Of course, for the GOP, this was the easy part. The party still has no health care blueprint, despite seven years of effort, and Republicans remain divided over their legislative strategy. In an instantly memorable line, Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) said overnight, ”We’re loading a gun here. I want to know where it’s pointed before we start the process.”
But at least for now, most Republicans are content to worry about where the bullet will end up later.
Congratulations, America. You’ve elected a Congress that actually has a bridge it wants to sell you.
I am LIVID over this.
I LOATHE these people.
What is the real difference between someone who shoots you in the head to kill you and someone who denies you access to healthcare and causes your death?
What is the difference other than one kills by remote control?
So, is it okay to kill people if you can separate yourself from the actual act of killing?
Apparently so. Especially if you are obsessed with destroying the legacy of the first African American president. The dead are collateral damage, I suppose.
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/819505561171591169
Uh huh
Uh huh
Defending Sessions, GOP congressman sees a ‘war on whites’
01/12/17 10:05 AM
By Steve Benen
Sen. Jeff Sessions’ (R-Ala.) nomination to be the next Attorney General is facing considerable pushback from civil-rights organizations, and for good reason. By any fair measure, the Alabama Republican’s record on race and civil rights is deeply controversial.
But for some of his allies, this isn’t a legitimate subject of inquiry. Indeed, as CNN reported, one of Sessions’ Alabama congressional colleagues believes the GOP senator is a victim – facing discrimination because of the color of his skin.
“This “war on whites” crap is used to retaliate against POC, when POC CLAP BACK AT THEIR RACIST FUCKERY.
Trump’s ACA claims descend deeper into incoherence
01/12/17 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
With congressional Republicans divided over how best to proceed on health care, Donald Trump talked to the New York Times this week about his own preferred roadmap – which didn’t make any sense.
At yesterday’s press conference, the president-elect was asked about his replacement model for the Affordable Care Act, and Trump’s answer was amazing in its incoherence. It’s worth unwrapping:
It’s always fun when a politician argues that “they” may provide facts that the politician finds inconvenient, but Americans should ignore the facts and believe what the politician wants you to believe.
He didn’t explain what “a hundred percent increase” referred to – I suspect even he doesn’t know – but if the president-elect was referring to premiums, he’s mistaken. As for the idea that 2017 is going to be the “bad” year for premiums, the evidence points in the opposite direction.
That’s news to congressional Republicans, who thought they were responsible for finishing the plan they started working on seven years ago, and were never told about Trump’s intention to present his own blueprint.
According to Republican policymakers, current deductibles are too low, not too high. Trump may not realize this, but his party is committed to changing the ACA to increase deductibles – a lot. The president-elect’s understanding of this is backwards.
https://twitter.com/Jmaree/status/819542288896561152
Just gonna drop this link here for ya’ll
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/01/10/michelle-obama-goes-unrecognized-on-walks-outside-the-white-house-black-women-know-why/?utm_term=.24b7a6818dcc&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1
Let the GRIFTING COMMENCE!
https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/819559656540487680
About Those Meetings Between the Trump Campaign and Russian Officials
by Nancy LeTourneau
January 11, 2017 3:59 PM
In light of the allegations that the Trump campaign had direct ties to Russian officials, Steve Benen reminds us of something important today. Back in November, this was pretty widely reported in the press:
As an aside, I’ll point out that this might be the one and only time that Trump and/or his spokesperson has ever contradicted something a Russian official said. Nevertheless, it is important to keep this statement from Rybakov in mind when they categorically deny any contact with Russia prior to the election.
The documents released by Buzzfeed name three Trump staff/advisors who held meetings with top-level Russian officials on behalf of the campaign: Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Michael Cohen. At the news conference this morning, it was alarming that Sean Spicer said this about Carter Page:
https://twitter.com/ezlusztig/status/819443310846705664
GOP voted in the middle of the night like a thief to repeal Obamacare
https://twitter.com/MsPackyetti/status/819462063894515712
Trump’s trainwreck press conference ushers in a shambolic presidency
Richard Wolffe
It’s safe to say that the Trump administration already looks clueless – and it hasn’t even started yet
Donald Trump is not what he seems. The supposed master of media manipulation stumbled so often at his first press conference, it is hard to recall why anyone thought the TV star was good at this stuff in the first place.
If the potentially explosive story embroiling him weren’t so salacious, you might say this is a case of the emperor’s new clothes. Instead, it’s safe to say the Trump presidency is already in shambles. And it has yet to reach its official start.
For a showman who promised to restore the Reagan era – and even ripped off Reagan’s slogan – this is just one of the most surprising revelations of the past few days.
Reagan and his advisers knew how to project a sunny image that kept the presidency separate from whatever the pesky media wanted to focus on, such as high unemployment or secret gun-running to enemy states.
Judging from Wednesday’s trainwreck press conference – the first since July – Trump and his handlers have no self-discipline and no strategy to deal with the Russian crisis that has been simmering for the best part of the past year.
How the Trump dossier came to light: secret sources, a retired spy and John McCain
What began as opposition research during the Republican primary slowly grew from a covert investigation into an extraordinary but unverified global story
The extraordinary but unverified documents published on Tuesday on Donald Trump’s ties with Moscow began life as a piece of opposition research, which has become as much a part of US politics as yard signs and coloured balloons.
There is a small industry of research and investigative firms in Washington, typically staffed by a mix of former journalists and security officials, adept at finding information about politicians that the politicians would rather stay hidden. The firms often do not know who exactly is hiring them; the request could come from a law firm acting on behalf of a client from one of the parties.
In this case, the request for opposition research on Donald Trump came from one of his Republican opponents in the primary campaign. The research firm then hired one of its sub-contractors who it used regularly on all things Russian: a retired western European former counter-intelligence official, with a long history of dealing with the shadow world of Moscow’s spooks and siloviki (securocrats).
By the time the contractor had started his research, however, the Republican primary was over. The original client had dropped out, but the firm that had hired him had found a new, Democratic client. This was not necessarily the Hillary Clinton campaign or the Democratic National Committee. Opposition research is frequently financed by wealthy individuals who have donated all they can and are looking for other ways to help.
By July, the counter-intelligence contractor had collected a significant amount of material based on Russian sources who he had grown to trust over the years – not just in Moscow, but also among oligarchs living in the west. He delivered his reports, but the gravity of their contents weighed on him. If the allegations were real, their implications were overwhelming.
Good Morning, Everyone 😐😐😐
Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everyone.
Good morning, everyone